If you do a lot of video work on YouTube, cable or anywhere else for that matter, you’ll probably know just how useful a teleprompter can be. For those who don’t know what we mean, these devices deliver a slow scrolling stream of text next to the camera which lets you look straight at the lens, read and yet look like you’re talking freely about the subject at hand. No more having to memorize all the information.

They’re used by everyone from politicians to documentary makers, newsreaders and conference M/Cs, but unfortunately the equipment has hitherto been very expensive to hire or buy, which puts them out of the reach of amateur or hobbyist film-makers.

However as usual time and technology changes everything, and there are currently a fair number of free TP programs available for tablets and smartphones. And now there’s a cool free service offered online called EasyPrompter. The service offers an easily set up system which lets you copy/paste your text into a box, set the scroll speed, elapsed time and even capitalize and flip text for mirrored use.

The fact that it is web browser based, means it can also be used on any tablet computer or in fact any device which can run a browser, and while it may not have all the top notch features of an expensive teleprompting system, it’s a real bonus for those on a budget. There is also a Portable version which you can download and install on a USB flash drive, which means you can run it on any computer, without needing an Internet connection. Very nice.